Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Small projects

Yep we all have them. In addition to the decades of prep backlog of big, complete and interesting specimens there is always that nagging pile of individual bones and small specimens that gets collected then sits as priority number 12 on the shelf. Sometimes it's a good organizational effort (and therapy) to get these things knocked off the to-do list. Plus it frees up a bit of space for the next season's collecting efforts (which should begin any week now, hopefully.
You ever get the feeling you're being watched?

This past summer during beer week in Montana I found a small shard of tyrannosaur tooth sticking out of a lag deposit. I suggested to one of our guests, Terri, that she could spend some time excavating it. Turns out she discovered that the tooth was still connected to a chunk of jaw. Unfortunately digging it out was a bit of a chore since the sandstone got really hard really quickly. It did clean up nicely though, and will be going on display sometime today.

Tyrannosaur maxilla and tooth

Some progress is being made on Pete III, our challenging Daspletosaurus torosus, also from Montana. This huge 70 pound monstrosity of a jacket contained just one spindly rib. That and lots of sandstone. Whatever, it's off the shelf now and nearly in the clean room.
There's the rib!

We're not all about preparing partial dinosaur bones though. This Pteranodon sternbergi metacarpal was pulled from the lower chalk in western Kansas a few years back. Should have been prepared years ago.
Isolated bones are so pretty

4 comments:

  1. Anthony,
    Yeah, every one has a similar stash of bits and pieces that are awaiting some attention. So many fossils... so little time!

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  2. Mike is so right. How much of P3 is there to go prep-wise?

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  3. Just a wild estimation, but probably enough to keep Jacob and I busy prepping for 5-6 months. A lot of what you've seen that still has jackets on it is only prepared on one side. Lots of time stabilizing and separating stuff still to go. Wanna come down and help? Volunteers always welcome!

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  4. If I could I would and If I can I will! In the meantime I'll have to rely on your prep update posts. Thanks for the offer Anthony!

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